Muscle Building Exercises

Muscle building exercises help your muscles burn more calories when you are doing nothing! That makes them wonderrful to have. You increase muscle mass by moving heavy stuff around, and luckily, our bodies are heavy enough to do the trick! Pull ups, push ups, pumping hand weights, lunges, etc. Muscle building exercises are all fabulous weight bearing activities that don’t take a lot of expensive equipment.

Arms

Arms can be difficult to tone. Pull ups are a fabulous way to strengthen arms…with very few repetitions. (I am all about few repetitions!) Think you can’t do a pull up?

Think again! Grab an over the door pull up bar and a chair, and have at it! This video will show you how!

Lower Body

Muscle building exercises for the lower body lift the booty and make it much easier to do all that bending and squatting that moms do in their day. You can do lunges and squats over and over, or you can have a little fun. Trudi Styler's (Mrs. Sting) ballet workout is fun and effective. While you can pick up a ballet bar for less than $100, you can also use two straightback chairs. No guessing involved...there is a routine on the DVD just for straightback chairs. Not only will you have a strong lower body, but you will develop long muscles and add a bit of dancer's grace to your everyday movements. You will love it!

Abs

Who doesn't love a long, lean, flat belly? However, getting one is a whole different story. I think the hardest muscle building exercises are for abs. In fact...I avoided abs exercises like the plague, hated my jelly belly, and thanks to insane back labor, suffered with lower back arthritis pain. Finally I found an ab DVD that I love. Not only is it a workout that I can get through, but results are quick and it doesn't take very long to do. Part of the routine is even helps my chest and arms!

Flexibility

The age of the body is measured in the flexibility of the spine.~Maya Fiennes

This is oh so true!! When we see people who are stiff and unable to move well, we make huge assumptions about their age…and we don’t assume a low number!! Yet when we see someone who is visibly older but spry…we actually smile! They clearly have a younger body and spirit.

One of my favorite muscle building exercises is yoga. Yoga increases your flexibility while you are doing weight bearing exercises. The focus on breathing fills your lungs with oxygen, which in turn saturates your blood with oxygen, feeding your muscles and clearing your mind. Who doesn’t need some mind clearing? Raising the arms overhead activates the lymphatic system to circulate lymphatic fluid which washes away toxins. There’s even yoga for your face! These exercises are simple wrinkle busters. Check ‘em out!

Want to yoga but aren't sure where to start? Below find my favorite beginner DVDs and equipment to get you going.

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